The Daily Iowan - 09.28.2022

UI takes on $56.2 million in capital improvements

The regents approved the University of Iowa’s plans for multiple years worth of renovations.

Emily Nyberg News Reporter

The University of Iowa will work on five capital projects that will improve on-campus laborato ries and replace hospital equipment and emergen

cy generators.

Rod Lehnertz, UI senior vice president for finance and operations, said at the Sept. 15 regents meeting that all projects combined will cost an estimated $56.2 million. The projects are set to be

completed between 202325.

Medical Laboratories Building, Medical Research Center renovation to assist pediatrics department

The first project in cludes renovations to the

department of pediatrics’ medical laboratories at the UI Hospitals and Clin ics. The renovations are budgeted for $6-7 million and will provide space for pediatric cancer and epi lepsy research, Lehnertz said.

“It is primarily labo ratory space, laborato ry support space, some shared spaces between those departments, and the medical research cen ter,” he said.

UIHC emergency genera

tor relocation

The second approved project involves phase two of relocating the UIHC emergency genera tor out of the main hospi tal. The project will also

EMT shortage, calls impact JoCo

crease over fiscal 2021, with over 14,000 calls so far.

The Johnson County Am bulance Service is struggling to hire paramedics amid a national shortage while dealing with an increasing volume of calls.

Ambulance services re ported an 11 percent in

Ambulance Service Di rector Fiona Johnson said she is now hiring more staff because of the large quantity of calls.

“In this last fiscal year, we realized that we need to increase our staffing on the street based on that in

creased call volume,” John son said. “And so, in June, we went to the Board of Super visors and basically said, ‘We need to increase our staffing on the street.’”

“The challenge that we have had since the pandemic is that doctors’ offices, emer gency rooms, radiology clin ics, surgical units — they’re all having paramedics staff their agencies because they have a nursing shortage,” Johnson said. “And so, for

To help spread the work load, the ambulance service is searching for applicants to increase the staff available. But the struggle, Johnson said, has been a shortage of available workers.

paramedics, it’s great be cause they are needed in more arenas across health care. But it also decreas es the available number of paramedics that are in my application pool.”

In 2020, 45 percent of surveyed U.S. paramedics reported they left their posi tion and the field for a differ ent job. The need has been felt by the emergency medical technicians (EMT) respond ing to the calls. Amanda Voss-Grumish, Johnson County paramedic field su pervisor, said the increase in calls leads to more work.

Latinx Youth Summit art displayed at UI

Archie Wagner News Reporter

The University of Iowa Latinx Youth Summit on Sept. 23 promoted the theme of “Bienestar, Salud, y Sabiduria: Supporting Youth Wellbeing” with a new competition that encourages students to respond to the prompt with a piece of artwork.

This year’s winner is an art piece from Ar iana at Griswold High School. The piece is titled “Symbol of Friendship” and is a rendi tion of the Statue of Liberty.

The painting was shipped out to the UI and will be displayed in the Center for Inclu sive Academic Excellence for the remainder of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Griswold High School could not attend the summit, Alma Bernal said, an academic coach for the UI Center for Inclusive Aca demic Excellence, but the student still re flected on the piece’s meaning.

“When she was asked about the artwork, she said Lady Liberty represents friendship,” Bernal said. “Friendship is very important to our well-being. When you have friends, you have a sense of community, safety, and

Bernal attended the Latinx Youth Summit when she was in high school, but now she is part of the committee that plans the event.

“I just started my position here at the uni versity in January,” Bernal said. “This is my first year planning the Latinx Youth Summit

Hawkeyes stress over in flation, tuition

Grace Katzer News Reporter

The reality of rising costs and debt is all too familiar for University of Iowa fourthyear student Jarod Valencia-Cheng, who has paid out-of-state tuition ever since they moved from Maryland to Iowa City to study creative writing.

“Every year I have watched those tuition fees go up and up,” Valencia-Cheng said. “I pay about $43,000 [for tuition], not includ ing the benefits I get from work.”

In April, the state Board of Regents ap proved a 3 percent increase to resident hall rates and meal plans for the 2022-23 aca demic year. Tuition at the UI also jumped 4.25 percent in July with unanimous ap proval from the regents. The Consumer Price Index also released new inflation data on Sept. 13, reporting an 8.3 percent in crease in inflation in August.

Valencia-Cheng said most of their tui tion was paid for in private loans starting from freshman year up until this past school year as well as federal loans with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

“There are no scholarships that are set aside in the English department for

The Johnson County Ambulance Service sees call increase, leaving workers with less time between calls.

Janelle Greiger, a paramedic at the Johnson County Ambulance Service, walks to the ambulance door inside of the ambulance service’s garage in Iowa City to respond to a call on Sept. 23. The county reported an increased number of calls recently, leading to less time between emergency responses.

The winning artwork “Symbol of Friendship” was submitted by a Griswold High School student.

Students are feeling the ef fects of high inflation rates as prices continue to rise.

Alejandro Rojas News Reporter

Contributed by Ariana

80 Hours: Book festival to feature Iowa City authors The Iowa City UNESCO City of Litera ture Book Festival will present over 40 events, putting both big ideas and local authors’ books into the spotlight. Page 1B

replace the five current generators that are out of date and require frequent maintenance. The gen erator facility was con structed during the first phase in 2016.

“[The project] allows for emergency backup for the hospital, a best prac tice model to make sure that your backup isn’t right where the concerns and emergencies might happen at an operat ing hospital,” Lehnertz said. “We built the origi nal building to be added onto, and this is part of a total of a four-phase growth plan.”

The project will cost $44.8 million and will be funded with the Universi ty Hospitals Building Us age Fund.

Operating room renova tion, HVAC updates

The third project will renovate UIHC operating Room 8 to accommodate new X-ray equipment, which will cost around $2.8 million. Lehnertz said the new equipment will maximize the room’s usage and will support a

wider range of surgical procedures.

The fourth project will cost $4.5 million for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning modi fications in the medical laboratories. The project will replace 500 outdat ed variable air volume controllers. Lehnertz said this will improve building efficiency and save ener gy.

“The project would be

ing renewal and deferred maintenance funds. This goes back to all of our ef forts about making sure that the buildings we have, which are aging, can serve the functions that they host,” he said.

The fifth and final proj ect will address the de ferred maintenance in the advanced technology lab oratory on the east side of campus. The maintenance will cost $4.1 million and include repairs both

inside and outside the building, which was built in 1992, Lehnertz said.

“We are addressing upper-level exterior fen estrations for the stain less-steel sheath build ing,” he said. “We were seeing weather impacts of that 30-year period [since the building was built] that were impacting inte rior surfaces of the build ing.”

emily-e-nyberg@uiowa.edu

just as much time as we were with the patient, if not more sometimes.”

Johnson County para medic Karma Mack said there is other work that takes away free time be yond responding to calls.

“There’s a lot less down time in what we would con sider not active time doing things for the ambulance service. Besides just the calls, there are your daily checks for the trucks. There is the education part of it. There’s PR or events that we tried to [do for] the commu nity,” Mack said.

AMBULANCE

isn’t just when we’re with the patient, it’s getting to the call as well as taking care of the patient, deliv ering them to the hospital

advocates or in different positions that I stereo typically wouldn’t see.”

if that’s what they choose to do,” Voss-Grumish said. “And then also all the docu mentation, which that doc umentation part can take

… It’s kind of become like a full circle moment for me.”

Bernal said an import ant takeaway from the summit is representation.

Representation comes from the students attend ing, the volunteers at the college level, and from the subjects of panels like “How to Manage Your Wellbeing in College as a Latinx Student.”

“The biggest thing I took away was being sur rounded by people who look like me,” Bernal said.

“[People] who were in positions in an academ ic way or were education

Denise Martinez, as sociate dean for diversi ty, equity, and inclusion in the Carver College of Medicine, was the key note speaker at this year’s event and expanded on representation and well ness.

“When I was in their shoes, I was discouraged from pursuing what I wanted to pursue — being a physician — because I was told that I didn’t have what it takes,” Martinez said.

Martinez said she made sure to emphasize that children have what it takes to succeed and that

finding mentors, support, and opportunities to take care of themselves is part of that success.

“What I think is really important is helping the students find their voice and recognize what they have to contribute to so ciety,” Martinez said.

The event hosted workshops by current students, including one co-hosted by UI third-

To attract applicants, Johnson said the service will soon implement a new credit system that will allow incoming hires to receive a higher starting wage based on past experience.

year student Erin Elizal de, who focused on the intersections of culture and self-love.

“A lot of the focus was about how culture influ ences your idea of your self and how culture is a beautiful thing that you can use to figure out ways to appreciate and love yourself,” Elizalde said.

Elizalde is also a stu dent assistant at the Cen

• Of the 62.1 percent of non-residential students with fi nancial needs, 52 percent had their needs met.

• 55 percent of UI students gradu ate with debt - the highest percentage of all three public state universities.

First-year student Han nah Williams said she faced the decision to possibly withdraw her application from the UI when tuition rates increased.

With two older brothers in college as well, Williams wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan that her par ents could not afford to pay for her college education despite the FAFSA estimat ed family contribution.

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INFLATION

students of color that are from outside the state of Iowa, and the same goes for queer, trans students,” Valencia-Cheng said.

After years of searching for scholarships to afford their education, Valen cia-Cheng turned toward working to help pay for tuition.

“I’m constantly work ing,” they said. “I’ve ap plied to at least five or six jobs in the past three or so months, and usually I get rejected or places just don’t call back.”

Although they de scribed growing up com fortably in a two-income home, attending college 900 miles away put a fi nancial strain on Valen cia-Cheng. Last year, their

dad suffered complete liv er failure and partial kid ney failure that left him in a medically induced coma.

“I felt so much shame, being far away, getting an education, and not taking care of him,” they said. “I was sending money back from my paycheck to my mom so she could pay for the house bills.”

Meanwhile in Iowa City, the costs of living contin ue to rise.

“I’ll even start going out of my way sometimes to find gas stations with less money,” they said. “And I still have to put it on the credit card because I just can’t afford it.”

Valencia-Cheng hopes to go to graduate school with a Master of Fine Arts in cre ative writing, but because of financial obstacles, the fu ture remains uncertain.

“Every other day it’s like, do I drop out? But I’m scared of dropping out,” they said. “I’m scared that they’ll have to kick me out of the university because I just can’t pay.”

Despite the 4.25 percent increase in tuition, the re gents reported in this year’s Annual Student Financial Aid Report that need-based scholarships and grants awarded to undergraduates decreased by 2 percent at regent universities. Other areas of aid changed as well: Externally sourced need-based schol arships declined by 7.3 percent.

Of the 76.4 per cent of residential UI students with financial needs, 56 percent of students had their needs met.

“I had called the school and asked if there was any more aid that they could give me, but they said that all FAFSA offers were final, and could not be changed,” she wrote.

Williams wrote she was not planning on working during her first semester of college but quickly real ized that she had to if she wanted to pay her college tuition.

“I needed some sort of income to at least help me stay afloat,” she wrote.

Extra spending is now

Even with the increased workload, Mack said being a paramedic is as rewarding as ever.

“I’ve been in health care since I was 14. I was a CNA and just worked my way up into it,” Mack said. “I’ve loved being a caregiver. That’s where it started, and what I’ve done in my life.”

It’s a similar story for Voss-Grumish.

ter for Inclusive Academ ic Excellence and a peer leader for Iowa Edge.

Some of the questions used in the summit work shop were meant to spark the students’ self-reflec tion, she said.

The Latinx Youth Sum mit was canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19 but has seen greater partic ipation in the last two years, Bernal said. Last year’s summit had 150 in attendance, and the ex pected total at the Latinx Youth Summit 2022 was 216 including chaper ones.

“We actually cut it close this year, in regards to ca tering and the T-shirt or der and the swag order,”

“I like helping people, and our job is so different, you know. Like every day is completely different. You never know what you’re going to get. So sometimes that’s a good thing,” she said. “But it’s different. It’s fun. And we like helping people, truly.”

alejandro-rojas@uiowa.edu

Bernal said. “We’re like, ‘Oh my god,’ because two weeks ago, we didn’t have anyone registered.”

The art competition is a new addition to the sum mit’s activities line-up. In previous years, poster contests and history com petitions held its place.

“There hasn’t been a lot of interest in [the his tory competition] in the last couple of years,” Ber nal said. So, I said, ‘Let’s get rid of this, and maybe let’s try an art contest and see if that’s something,’ because it gives them a little more control and a little bit more let me in terpret it my way.”

archie-wagner@uiowa.edu

“Economic conditions usually determine the life style of not just working adults, but young [people]

in college as well,” she wrote. “I ended up still coming to Iowa, but with the responsibility of having to take out more student loans.”

grace-katzer@uiowa.edu

“The amount of time

extremely tight for Wil liams, as she is now looking for employment opportu nities in the area.

from Front

Matt Sindt/The Daily Iowan

A crane is seen behind the Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City on Sept. 25.

Isabella Cervantes/The Daily Iowan

Amanda Voss-Grumish, the paramedic field supervisor at the Johnson County Ambulance Service, returns a medical bag to an ambulance on Sept. 23.

LATINX Continued from Front

from Front

Johnny Jarnigan/The Daily Iowan

Burge Residence Hall is seen in Iowa City on Sept. 21. Students at the University of Iowa are feeling the stress of tuition increases and inflation.

The biggest thing I took away was being surrounded by people who look like me.”

— Alma Bernal, an academic coach for the UI Center for Inclusive Academic Excellence

Continued from Front

Hinson, Mathis use journalism backgrounds in campaign

Lauren White Politics Reporter

Arnold Schwarzeneg ger and former presi dents Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan are just a few who went from the screen to political of fice. Now, in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, both candidates vying for the House seat have backgrounds as televi sion news anchors — and both use this to their ad vantage.

Current Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, spent 10 years as a news anchor in Cedar Rapids, and her competitor, Iowa Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Hiawatha, was an anchor for nearly 30 years in the Waterloo and Cedar Rapids areas.

Timothy Hagle, a Uni versity of Iowa political science associate pro fessor, said being nota ble figures through their constituents’ television screens means they are already more trust worthy to voters.

“They know how to present themselves in a good way in terms of lighting or styling or whatever it happens to be,” Hagle said.

Hagle said voters ap preciate people with nontraditional political careers because different sectors of the workforce are represented in elect ed positions.

In February, the Public Policy Polling survey re vealed the race was neck and neck, with Hinson

at 43 percent of the vote and Mathis at 42 percent.

Another advantage Hinson and Mathis’ journalism backgrounds present is their under standing of how news works, Hagle said.

“With Mathis and Hin son, because they worked in news, they have a better sense of what is newsworthy. They know the kinds of things that might be worth an edi tor or reporter’s time to come out and do a story,” Hagle said.

In an email to The Dai ly Iowan, Mathis wrote being a journalist gave her name recognition in her area, which she said is important in a chal lenger. She also wrote the job gave her insights into what problems Congress needs to fix for Iowans.

“From the farm crisis and national disasters to coverage of interna tional incidents and in terviewing presidential candidates from Reagan to Obama eras, I gained knowledge across a broad range of issues as well as expanded research and analytical skills import ant for thorough evalua tion of all provisions of a bill,” Mathis wrote.

Mathis wrote news broadcasting made her an effective communi cator. She added she can use sources to assist her with connecting Iowans to resources.

“Having great sourc es as a journalist helps

you land great stories,” Mathis wrote. “But you need to be a great com municator to tell the story.”

On Hinson’s campaign website, she touts her journalism career and says she went into pol itics to help with issues she covered for years.

During her campaign announcement for Con gress in 2017, Hinson used her background as a reporter as a part of her biography — saying she’s a “recovering journalist.”

Hagle said this refer ence to being a “recov ering journalist” is used to downplay how some voters view the media, referring to a lack of trust in publications — partic ularly among Republican voters. According to poll ing by FiveThirtyEight, Republican trust in media has declined since 1997, hitting its lowest point during the Trump Presi dency.

In an email to the DI, Hinson said her news background gave her the opportunity to meet Iowans across the state and really understand the issues they were hav ing. In turn, this helped her throughout her cam paign efforts. She also said she uses her jour nalism background to exercise congressional oversight.

“Before hearings with Biden Administration officials, I do my re search, figure out what I need to ask, and execute

– just like I would for an interview,” Hinson wrote.

When asked in a pre vious interview with the DI about her opinion on the Iowa law strength ening free speech on college campuses, Hin son supported the law because of her back ground in journalism.

“I think, first and fore most, it comes down to protecting the First Amendment. I’m a for mer journalist,” Hinson said. “I care about people being able to express how they feel on any issue. And we don’t want to see speech suppressed, es pecially on college cam puses where they are de signed to be a beacon of that conversation and a beacon of thought if you can have dialogue, much like we have here in the halls of Congress.”

Hinson wrote she holds a press call every week with journalists because she believes the people she represents deserve transparency.

Last fall, Cedar Rapids voters overwhelmingly elected Tiffany O’Don nell, another political figure who previously worked as a news an chor, as mayor in a race against incumbent Brad Hart and local activist Amara Andrews.

O’Donnell said hones ty is extremely import ant as a public official, and updating your con stituents on plans and policies in the media is

crucial.

“As a journalist, the second I sense someone is trying to hide some thing for me, I have the instinct to ask more questions. I’m a firm be liever, certainly in pub lic office, of transparen cy, and it’s really just a part of my DNA, com ing from a journalism background,” O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell said the starkest difference be tween a career in the media and a political career is having to drop her objectivity. As an anchor, she said she tried to forge a positive relationship with all her viewers. But as mayor, she must expose how she feels about certain issues.

“It can be difficult at first to know that you might have disap pointed a few people,” O’Donnell said. “But at the end of the day, none of us run for office because we think ev erything’s running per fectly. We run because we believe that we can effect positive change, and that means that not everyone’s going to like you.”

Vice President of the University Democrats at Iowa Ryan Westhoff said he’s noticed Hin son and Mathis using their background as journalists to connect to voters.

While they do not have the traditional

2005-2015

Hinson

2016

Started

background of law or policy making in the past, their approach is still effective because of name recognition.

“People recognize them from watching their nightly news. I think there is that as pect of it, to where they are recognized as people that have been around through presenting po litical issues to them in the past, and that’s how they connect in a local way,” Westhoff said.

While a candidate’s background can be im portant, Westhoff said, it is not the first thing he looks for in an elect ed official. Instead, he looks at policies and how they would affect his community.

The UI does not sit in Iowa’s newly drawn 2nd Congressional District, but it’s still important for students in Iowa City to be familiar with the race, Westhoff said. With some students go ing back to their home counties in that district and it being a neighbor ing district, he said, it’s crucial that students stay updated.

“It’s a relatively close seat in a really import ant House election when it comes to pro tecting a lot of priori ties and a lot of rights that people find im portant that are poten tially in jeopardy this year,” Westhoff said.

2022

Hinson

Mathis

2021

Chaired

2015

Resigned

2020

Won

lauren-white@uiowa.edu

Infographics by Marandah Mangra-Dutcher

Gabby Drees/The Daily Iowan

Democratic candidate Liz Mathis speaks at a campaign event for herself and Christina Bohannan at the Sutliff

Farm & Cider House in Lisbon, Iowa, on Sept. 3.

Matt Sindt/The Daily Iowan U.S. Rep Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, speaks during Ashley Hinson’s BBQ Bash at the Linn County Fairgrounds on Aug. 28.

Timeline of Hinson’s career

Timeline of Mathis’

Opinions

College might not be your time to shine

Not everyone has the best years of their lives during their time in college.

extremely negative effect.

Elise Cagnard Opinions Columnist

Our whole lives seem to lead up to college. From preschool to high school, we are inundated with ide alistic expectations of what the college experience will bring us.

We might not know ex actly what to expect, but we are assured that we are embarking on the best four years of our lives.

Sadly, this expectation is not met for many.

In reality, college does not always match the Hol lywood movies we’ve grown up watching. Unfortunate ly, not everyone walks into campus and instantly finds a perfect group of friends, and not everyone figures out their career path after their first lecture.

While college is a forma tive experience and it is of ten the place where people make lasting friendships and impactful memories, the pressure to have the best time of your life has an

COLUMN

Some people put so much pressure on them selves that every moment is tainted by the fear that they’re not enjoying it enough. This fear has lead to the common acronym on social media “FOMO,” the fear of missing out.

Four years can fly by, and many are too worried about missing out. They also never appreciate what they have.

This makes it difficult to enjoy the simpler things in life. A quiet night in with roommates might feel like a waste of time, as many feel obliged to go out ev ery night. But this may lead someone to miss out on the unplanned moments that lead to the best times of college.

I am currently in my third year of college, and I can confidently say that all my best memories are tied to unplanned events, in op position to trying to force myself to make a memory.

While this may seem like it’s all in someone’s head, there are many outside in fluences that factor in.

College students share the universal experience of vis iting home and having the adults in your life ask about the amazing time you’re having or hear parents rem

inisce on their glory days of college. This mounting pressure adds more to the already overwhelming expe rience.

This was particularly rel evant in the last few years due to the isolation caused by COVID-19. Many peo ple were not able to make as many friends as they

planned because of the restricted socialization caused by online classes and limits on large social gatherings.

This barrier only fur thered the unmet expecta tions some people held.

The simple truth is, ev eryone experiences life dif ferently. For some, college

is one of the best moments of their life, but it’s not for others. It takes some people a few extra years to find the place in the world where they feel as though they belong.

There’s no shame for this to take longer for some, whether this happens when they’re 15, 21, or 30 years

old. Some may find them selves better after college after the pressure of fitting in absolves.

There’s no right or wrong way to go through college. As long as you are happy, you’re living your best ex perience.

elise-cagnard@uiowa.edu

A few thoughts on journalistic objectivity

Objectivity is about reporting facts, not neutrality.

amine how they define ob jectivity. More specifically, if they want to be factual in their reporting, they need to forgo political neutrality in some situations.

To understand what it means to be truly objective, one needs to understand what a fact is.

facts can be understood in dependently of other facts and are the basis of what makes up our world. These facts are learned through rigorous inductive meth ods.

Shahab Khan Opinions Columnist

Objectivity — or the idea that journalism requires a dispassionate, factual, and non-partisan voice — is a notion that all aspir ing journalists are taught. However, for this current “post-truth age,” this defi nition of objectivity fails on the ground that journal ists inadvertently end up equating falsehoods with truths.

Therefore, it is in the in terest of journalists to ex

POINT/COUNTERPOINT

The 20th century British philosopher Bertrand Rus sell contended that facts are complex forms that are dependent on other simpler entities for them to make sense in a logical manner. These simpler entities that make up facts are proposi tions that cannot be broken down any further and are known by Russell as atomic facts.

While this is certainly an oversimplification of Rus sell’s work, the main idea to take away is that atomic

Where Russell’s theory is of particular interest to journalistic objectivity is his discussion of positive (true) facts and negative (untrue) facts. In Russell’s view, for us to know a fact is positive, we must also know that there is a negative fact that does not exist.

For example, for us to truly know the positive fact that the sky is blue, we have to know the corresponding negative fact — that the sky is not blue — is false.

To seem nonpartisan and objective, journalists often confuse the distinction be tween positive and nega

tive facts. This practice has had detrimental effects on how the U.S. deals with po litical problems.

This is best seen in dis cussions around climate change in the American press from the 1990s until the mid 2000s. Research ers found that because the journalism industry placed greater emphasis on “non-biased” cover age, climate change denial was treated as a legitimate proposition like the scien tific consensus.

As a result, the American public began to view cli mate change as an issue not grounded in scientific fact. Rather, they saw the debate around climate change as a nuanced discussion in which climate deniers made points as valid as scientists. Furthermore, another

example of journalistic ob jectivity leading to the pro motion of negative facts as truth was during the build up to the Iraq War when American media regurgi tated the Bush Administra tion’s narrative about Iraq having nuclear weapons.

In this instance, the American press openly landed its legitimacy in pur porting negative facts with out ever stopping to think if there was something else going on. In other words, even when appearing “ob jective,” the American me dia was not interested in pursuing facts.

The problem with cur rent standards of jour nalistic objectivity is that it is not objective in the proper sense of the word. Instead, it teaches journalists to be neutral

when covering issues and equate views grounded in conjecture with fullyformed facts.

If journalism wants to be considered truly objective, it needs to focus on report ing the truth and picking which side is correct re garding an issue. Today’s journalists have improved their coverage on issues such as climate change and have been more focused on reporting correct informa tion over seeming neutral.

Yet, so long as journal ists are taught to remain neutral in their reporting, there will be a continued equivalence in truthfulness between positive and neg ative facts that will lead to a continued degradation in American discourse.

shahab-khan@uiowa.edu

Do college students make good ‘pet parents’?

YesCaring for a pet in college is not a one-way street. Owning a pet has several benefits for the care provider.

Sophia Meador Opinions Editor

We’ve all the seen the heartwrenching TV com mercials where Sarah McLachlan sings “Angel” while sad dogs and cats beg us for donations. For many like myself, these commercials can convince them a shelter animal is in dire need of their love and attention.

Each year, 3.1 million dogs and 3.2 million cats are placed in shelters, ac cording to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Although one can easily argue that college students are too busy and irre sponsible to properly tend to the needs of a pet, no pet parent is perfect.

Perhaps college students are not ex emplary when it comes to providing the best possible home for a pet. But any home that provides a pet love and atten tion is better than a lonesome shelter.

College can be a stress-inducing, de pressing, and lonely place. Pets can make an otherwise void campus feel like a home. In fact, pet owners are less like ly to suffer from depression than those without pets, according to HelpGuide, a nonprofit focused on mental health and wellness.

Owning a pet can also bring structure and routine to a student’s chaotic sched uling. Carving out time to feed, walk, and attend to pet’s needs can establish sta bility in a students life.

This past year, I started living with a cat for the first time. While skeptical at first, every day I’m eager to come home and see our beloved pet. Pet ownership helped me grow as an adult and taught me to tend to the needs of others. I feel more prepared to care for other pets and people in the future.

Though owning a pet is not for every one, caring for a pet is well worth the ex tra work.

sophia-meador@uiowa.edu

Al though jokes about millennial pet par ents and their “fur babies” are common on social media, it’s true that animals are essentially children.

The college lifestyle typically includes unpredictable schedules, low-income budgets, and rotating living environ ments. Because they are financially and socially unestablished, college students can’t become successful pet parents without the possibility of harm to the animals they love.

All animals need a certain daily amount of attention and love, requiring the physical presence of their owners. Other costs and responsibilities associ ated with pet ownership include medical emergencies and special needs that col lege students aren’t always able to fit in their budgets last minute.

NoRecent studies have shown that col lege students are likely to dump their adopted animals in shelters or even abandon them outside when the finan cial and social responsibility becomes too much to handle.

Stray animals — specifically feral cats — are a known problem in Iowa City. The issue is not the animals themselves, but rather the unpredictable winter weather and heavy traffic that can endanger stray animals living in unsheltered areas.

College students add to this problem when they take in animals they later de cide they cannot care for properly. This problem was especially noted during the height of COVID-19 when many people decided to adopt animals during pan demic lockdown.

Before adopting an animal, potential owners must look past the present to see if a pet fits into their lifestyle for the next 10 — sometimes 20 or more — years.

Because college students can’t guar antee attention, secure housing, or the financial ability to care for an animal, they shouldn’t adopt.

yasmina-sahir@uiowa.edu

EDITORIAL POLICY

THE DAILY IOWAN which has been serving the University of Iowa, Johnson County, and state of Iowa communities for over 150 years, is committed to fair and accurate cov erage of events and issues concerning these areas. The DI is committed to correctly representing the communi ties it serves, especially those most underrepresented or marginalized. The DI welcomes any input on how our coverage can be improved to better serve our audience.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR may be submitted via email to daily-iowan@uiowa.edu (as text, not attachments). Each letter must be signed and include an address and phone number for verification. Letters should not exceed 300 words and may be edited for clarity, length, and style.

GUEST OPINIONS must be arranged with the Opinions Editor at least three days prior to the desired date of publication. Guest opinions are selected and edited in accordance with length, subject relevance, and space considerations. The DI will only publish one submission per author per month. No advertisements or mass mail ings, please.

READER COMMENTS that may appear were originally posted on dailyiowan.com or on the DI’s social media platforms in response to published material. Comments will be chosen for print publication when they are deemed to forward public discussion. They may be ed ited for length and style.

STAFF

Hannah Pinski, Executive Editor

Sophia Meador, Opinions Editor

Elise Cagnard, Dell Harbaugh, Shahab Khan, Chris Klepach, Jr., Evan Weidl, Yasmina Sahir Columnists

Sophia Meador, Shahab Khan , Yasmina Sahir, Ryan Hansen, Hannah Pinski, Eleanor Hildebrandt, Sabine Martin

Board

DI

Board and not the opinion of the publisher, Student Publications Inc., or the University of Iowa.

Grace Kreber/The Daily Iowan Event-goers play with balloons during Taylor Swift’s song “22” to celebrate the audience members’ birthdays at Gabe’s during The Taylor Party: Taylor Swift Night on May 6.

Yasmina Sahir Opinions Columnist

Ortega said. “My coaches have been super great at talking to me about it and making sure that I know that I’m an important piece of this team … Whether I’m on or off the court, if we get the win, it doesn’t matter. Because it’s team-first, al ways.”

The Hawkeyes have not experienced a winning sea son since Ortega or any of her teammates arrived on campus. Multiple coach ing changes in the last few years have signified a lack of consistent leadership for Iowa.

With Barnes at the helm, Ortega and her teammates appreciate the gym as a safe space and are excited to show up to practice ev ery day.

“Over the course of my volleyball career, even at Iowa, I have gone through times where I questioned my love for the game,” Or tega said. “And I can con fidently say, since our new staff has gotten here, I have yet to question if I love the game.”

mckenna-roering@uiowa.edu

PCP

Continued from Front

It will be hard for the Hawkeyes to take down both those teams with their pedestrian passing numbers and a young offensive line that is still building chemistry, and there’s a good chance that Charlie Jones puts up a bunch of yards on the Iowa defense à la David Bell.

Until the Hawkeyes find a more effective coordinator to run their arcane offensive scheme, they’ll find very lit tle success. Expect a 5-7 — or at best 6-6 — record with a late-season collapse capped off by a win over Nebraska. If everything goes wrong, the Hawkeyes will go 5-7 with losses to Iowa State, Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It’s unlikely that Iowa would be chosen for a bowl with a sub .500 record.

grant-hall@uiowa.edu

Grant said Iowa will miss out on a bowl game this year if “everything goes wrong” for the Hawkeyes over their final eight regular season games.

Well, first, I can tell you two teams that everything has gone wrong for so far this year, and they’re both on the Hawkeyes' upcoming schedule: Nebraska and North western.

Remember way back in Week 0 when the Wildcats beat the Cornhuskers in a thrilling 31-28 nail-bitter in Dublin, Ireland? Yeah, me too.

We thought that Nebraska was going to be the same old lose-heartbreaking-one-score-games team Iowa fans have come to know and love, and we thought North western was on its way to contending for a Big Ten West crown after the ‘Cats offense looked leaps and bounds better than it had in 2021.

But both Nebraska and Northwestern have fallen hard. The Huskers fired head coach Scott Frost after a stunning home loss to Georgia Southern and then took a 49-14 defeat against Oklahoma with interim head coach Mickey Joseph at the helm. From the outside, it looks like Lincoln is in shambles heading into Big Ten play.

Northwestern’s situation seems even worse. With three straight losses to Duke and mid-major foes South ern Illinois and Miami of Ohio, the Wildcats are 1-3 on the season. I didn’t even know Southern Illinois had a football team.

All that to say you can confidently put Ws by Io wa’s logo on Oct. 29, when Northwestern comes to town for Homecoming, and Nov. 25 when the Hawkeyes face the Huskers at Kinnick on Black Friday.

BUNDY

Continued from Front

ultimately detrimental to her knees, and she’s now realizing that her body isn’t as capable as it was last season.

Bundy said head coach Dave DiIanni, along with his staff, have been help ful in her recovery pro cess.

“Dave and I are very close,” Bundy said. “… Even though sometimes we don't see eye to eye, I think he really does see the big picture for me, and I do trust him and believe that, at the end of

the day, he's doing what's best for me and what's best for the team.”

DiIanni complimented Bundy on her on-field in telligence, saying she has an elite soccer IQ.

“She's smart, in terms of game situations,” Di Ianni said. “She's very technical. She could take a lot of our set pieces, and she's very courageous as a player.”

While recovering, Bun dy said she spent time getting a better under standing of the game to have a smoother transi tion to the field.

“Just being on the side

line and still staying in tune with the game, even when I'm not able to play, it gives me a complete ly different perspective than I had had before,” Bundy said.

Bundy is still working to get her stamina back to 2021 levels, but she be lieves she can surpass her current skills.

“I think I still have im provement to go, and re ally you can only go up from here,” Bundy said. “We’ll take the offsea son and hit next fall even harder.”

samuel-knupp@uiowa.edu

Those victories put Iowa at a minimum of 5-7, and I think, behind the prowess of their defense and special teams along with what looks like an improving running game, the Hawkeyes will earn one or two more wins. Iowa has also won seven straight games against Illinois.

Iowa-Minnesota will also be a barnburner. The Golden Gophers have not beaten the Hawkeyes in seven years, but P.J. Fleck’s bunch seem to be rowing the boat just fine. Minnesota is 3-0, No. 21 in the nation, and just dis mantled rival Michigan State, 34-7. The Sept. 24 contest against the Spartans marked the first time the Gophers won in East Lansing since 2006.

Don’t get me wrong, to get to 10 victories, as the Hawkeyes did a year ago, the passing game needs to im prove considerably, and that’s not going to happen.

But Phil Parker’s defense is No. 1 in the nation, Tory Taylor is the best punter on the planet, and there was some open space for Iowa’s backs last week against Rut gers, who held the country’s best rushing defense before the Week 4 matchup.

If quarterback Spencer Petras can find another steady target to throw to other than tight Sam LaPorta, and the Hawkeyes can manufacture something that looks remot ley close to a passing game, 8-4 or 9-3 could be in the cards, but I don't think it is. 7-5, book it.

christopher-werner@uiowa.edu

Chris Werner Assistant Sports Editor

Isabella Cervantes/The Daily Iowan

Setter Bailey Ortega sets the ball to middle hitter Delaney McSweeney during an Iowa women’s volleyball media conference and scrimmage at Xtream Arena in Coralville on August 20. Ortega tailed 201 digs in 2021.

ORTEGA

from Front

Hawkeyes earn two Big Ten Players of the Week

Senior defensive back Kaevon Mer riweather and junior punter Tory Tay lor earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors on Monday following Iowa’s victory over Rutgers.

In his first career defensive player of the week performance, Merriweath er recovered a forced fumble by cash Sebastian Castro and returned the ball 30 yards for a touchdown.

Later in the game, Merriweather intercepted Rutgers quarterback Evan Simon and returned the ball 33 yards. He also had a fourth-down pass breakup and three tackles.

“Oh, I was pretty surprised,” Merri weather said of his player of the week honor. “You know, I didn't really think I did anything crazy. I just kind of played off of what the game was giving me. Castro made that [fumble] play. So, without Castro, that fumble recovery wouldn't have happened.”

Taylor earned his second special teams player of the week honor of the season on Monday. He downed four punts inside the 20-yard line and averaged 42.6 yards per punt. Scarlet Knights returner Aron Cruickshank only attempted one punt return, losing two yards in the process.

Taylor is on the Ray Guy Award preseason watch list — presented to the nation’s best punter — as well as a preseason second-team All-American by Athlon Sports.

Jacobs out for the season Head coach Kirk Ferentz an nounced linebacker Jestin Jacobs is out for the season on Tuesday be cause of an unspecified injury.

When Jacobs initially sustained his injury against South Dakota State in Week 1, Ferentz was optimistic that it was just soft tissue and not sea son-ending.

Jacobs returned against Rutgers, playing limited snaps. Despite his re turn, Ferentz said Jacobs’ injury has gotten worse, but he didn’t provide any specifics.

“I don’t think it’s good,” Ferentz said on Saturday. “... We’ll see how it goes.”

Additional tests on Sunday and Monday confirmed Jacobs will need surgery and miss the rest of the sea son.

Jacobs, a junior, was a 2023 NFL Draft prospect at the beginning of the season. Ferentz didn’t say how this injury will affect Jacobs’ status in the NFL draft.

“That's the thing about injuries that I'm not sure anybody under stands,” Ferentz said Tuesday. “If you're a college football player, that's important to you to play those 12 games. That's all you have guaran teed. He just lost whatever we've got left, 10, nine [games]. There's nothing worse. Then you feel isolated. There's a whole mental, psychological com ponent that comes with being in jured.”

Senior Logan Klemp has primar ily taken over Jacobs’ role at cash. Sophomore Cooper DeJean has also played some time at the position.

“He's got the benefit of experience, unlike the guy we just talked about, Cooper,” Ferentz said. “Logan has been in the program. He's been a re ally good special teams player and a leader, and he's doing a fine job.”

Roberts, Johnson missing from Week 5 depth chart

Senior cornerback Terry Roberts also disappeared from the depth chart on Monday. He suffered an in jury on Friday, Ferentz said, and was held out as a precaution after going through warmups against Rutgers.

On Tuesday, Ferentz said Roberts has been limited in practice. He did not specify whether Roberts will play against Michigan on Saturday. In Roberts’ absence, DeJean has been filling in at cornerback.

Sophomore wide receiver Kea gan Johnson is also missing from the depth chart. The No. 1 wide re ceiver played limited snaps against Nevada in his only action so far this season.

“It’s soft tissue, and there’s no way to predict how it’ll really go,” Ferentz said Saturday. “He was making progress and then had a setback a week ago. We’ll just keep it day-to-day, and I’ll keep you post ed. There’s no way to predict these, based on my experience.”

On Tuesday, Ferentz said Johnson will not play against Michigan.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Football players are foot ball players, and he certainly is one.”

— Head coach Kirk Ferentz on Michigan RB Blake Corum.

STAT OF THE DAY

Love for the game

Kenna Roering Sports Reporter

Hawkeye junior setter Bailey Ortega has looked up to and modeled her game after Iowa volley ball players since she was a kid.

Now in the Black and Gold herself, Ortega is in spiring others on and off the court.

The Davenport, Iowa, native was a two-time team captain and fourtime all-conference hon oree at Davenport North High School, but she was not highly recruited.

After several coaches

told Ortega they could not see her playing at the Division I level, she re ceived a preferred walkon opportunity to play for her dream school, Iowa, in the spring of 2019.

“[Being a walk-on] definitely comes with a chip on the shoulder and an underdog mentality,” Ortega said. “It’s an ex perience you don’t really understand unless you're a walk-on. And I think I take a lot of pride in that, especially being from the state of Iowa.”

As a freshman in spring 2021, Ortega started all but two matches and led

the Hawkeyes with 387 assists. In her sophomore season, Ortega appeared in all 107 sets, registering 838 assists and 201 digs.

Ahead of her junior season in May 2022, Or tega got the news that every walk-on wants: Head coach Jim Barnes was putting her on schol arship for the rest of her college career.

“She’s one of the most unselfish leaders I’ve ever coached,” Barnes said. “And I’ve been doing this for a long time.”

Ortega’s court time has been limited at the begin ning of the 2022 season,

as she has only played in 20 of 45 sets so far. But at the Hawkeye Invitational at Xtream Arena Sept. 1617, Iowa showcased a new 6-2 offensive alignment. This new scheme incor porates an extra hitter, which rotates Ortega in to set across the back court.

“She was in a role where she wasn’t playing on game day,” Barnes said. “And you couldn’t tell in practice. You couldn’t tell in travel or off the court. She was all in … And then when we moved to the 6-2 where she has a much big ger role, she didn’t change

Bundy aims to surpass 2021

at all. She just kept be ing the same Bailey and kept getting better every match.”

Ortega’s infectious per sonality shines through whether she is playing every set or cheering on her teammates from the sidelines. She said she is happy to take over any role that her coaches see fit, as her mindset has been team-oriented from the start.

“My biggest mindset going into this is that whatever the team needs is what I’m willing to give,”

Will Iowa make a bowl?

— Total points Iowa football’s defense has given up in four games.

Iowa soccer’s Addie Bundy is working her way back into the Hawkeyes’ starting lineup af ter a knee injury hampered her standout 2021 freshman season.

Bundy started 18 of 20 games for the Hawkeyes in 2021, assisting six goals over the course of her freshman season.

But following the 2021 season, Bundy went in for her fourth knee surgery in five years.

Bundy’s knee problems started when she tore her left ACL playing soccer in 2017. The sopho more has had persistent knee issues since then, leading up to her 2021 surgery — which wasn’t another full ACL reconstruction, but a scope cleanout from previous surgeries.

The midfielder was back to doing light work outs with limited contact as early as January, but she didn’t play her first game back with the Hawkeyes until Aug. 28 — four games into the season. Bundy contributed to a 4-0 home win against DePaul.

“I think I was just a little bit nervous because I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I haven't been on the field in so long,’” Bundy said. “But it was also a mix of excitement.”

Bundy lightly practiced with the team throughout the spring, but she didn’t start full contact until the middle of August.

Recovering from her fourth knee surgery has been challenging, Bundy said. While her ball skills and soccer IQ came back immediately, fitness has been more difficult to redevelop.

“One day you come in and you have a real ly great practice, and then the next day your body's just exhausted and you can't perform as well as you want to,” Bundy said. “But it's just taking those cues from your body and realizing what you can and can't do and what's harmful and what's not.”

Bundy’s minutes have been down in 2022. She averages just 28.88 minutes per game com pared to 80.84 in 2021. The midfielder said the number of minutes she played in 2021 were

Despite a 3-1 start to the season, the road ahead for Iowa football is a bumpy one. The Hawkeyes have maybe six realistically win nable games left on the schedule. Although Kirk Ferentz and Co. seem to overachieve every year, this season might be the outlier.

With eight games remaining, the Hawkeyes have several tough opponents looming. The Hawkeyes’ first real test is coming this Saturday when No. 4 Michigan comes to town.

Iowa’s scoring defense stands No. 1 in the nation, allowing just 5.75 points a game, but the Wolverines are averaging 50 points per contest this season. Compared to the deadlast (No. 131) Iowa scoring offense, Jim Har baugh’s crew looks like the Greatest Show on Turf.

Up ahead, currently undefeated teams like No. 3 Ohio State and Minnesota will likely beat the Hawkeyes, too. Stopping the Buckeyes’ aerial attack behind the arm of CJ Stroud, and the Minnesota rushing attack spearheaded by 2020 third-team All-Amer ican back Mohamed Ibrahim, will be chal lenging.

Always tough rivals Wisconsin and Pur due will put up a good fight, respectively.

Bailey Ortega’s infectious personality shines whether she’s on or off the volleyball court.

Grace Kreber/The Daily Iowan

Iowa setter Bailey Ortega signs an Iowa volleyball poster for a fan following the match between Iowa and Purdue at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, on Sept. 25.

Johnny Jarnigan/The Daily Iowan

Iowa State midfielder Mira Emma kicks the ball downfield as Iowa midfielder Addie Bundy looks on during a soccer game at the Cyclone Sports Complex in Ames, Iowa, on Sept. 8.

Sam Knupp Sports Reporter

Despite an offseason knee surgery, the sophomore midfielder believes she can improve her skills from her freshman year.

Sports Reporter Grant Hall and Assistant Sports Editor Chris Werner debate Hawkeye football's postseason chances.

Grant Hall Sports Reporter

This weekend in arts and entertainment

2022 IowaCity Book Festival putsbig ideasinthe spotlight

From Sept. 28 to Oct. 13,Iowa City will celebrate itsannual book festival, withover 40 events held acrossthe city at its variouslibraries and bookstores.

Weekend Events

THURSDAY-29

FOOD

• DINNER RIDE

6 P.M., GRIZZLY’S SOUTH SIDE PUB & GRILL, 1210 HIGHLAND COURT

ASK THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Solnit

Stella Shipman Arts Reporter

• PHIL DOROTHY DRAWING STUDIO

6:30 P.M., ARTS IOWA CITY, 19-99 S. LINN ST.

ART LITERATURE

• REBECCA SOLNIT

7 P.M., CORALVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, 1401 5TH ST.

COMEDY

• RED ROOM COMEDY SHOW CASE

Rebecca Solnit is an American writer, historian, and activist. In a ceremony on Sept. 29, she will be awarded the Paul Engle Prize from the UNESCO City of Literature at the Coralville Public Library and dis cuss her work with author and editor Lyz Lenz. Solnit has written over 18 books on feminism, western and urban history, social change and insurrection, wan dering and walking, and hope and catastrophe. Her books include “Recollections of My Nonexistence,” “Hope in the Dark,” “Orwell’s Roses,” and she re cently launched the climate activism project “Not Too Late.”

The Daily Iowan: How did you feel when you found out you were awarded the Paul Engle Prize from the UNESCO City of Literature?

Rebecca Solnit: I was delighted, and it was a nice thing because I did not get an MFA. I did not go to a writing program, and so it’s always nice to be recognized by the program and by the system to validate that you can become a writer through other avenues as well.

ence, which is becoming the writer that I became, and what I think is an almost universal experience, which is just be ing a young woman in a world where so many people want to harm and silence and control young women. In some ways, it was very satisfying to put it on the record, but also very personal to put some of that experience out there.

DI: Is there any piece of literary work you have written thus far that you are most passionate about, and why?

MISC.

• CYBERSECURITY ACTION

MONTH KICKOFF EVENT

3 P.M., BIG GROVE BREWERY & TAPROOM, 1225 S. GILBERT ST.

FRIDAY-30

6:30 P.M., SANCTUARY, 405 S. GILBERT ST. MISC.

• OKTOBERFEST AT HOTEL MILLWRIGHT

2 P.M., HOTEL MILLWRIGHT, 800 48TH AVE.

• STEM FAMILY FREE NIGHT

5 P.M., THE IOWA CHILDREN’S MUSEUM, 1451 CORAL RIDGE AVE.

• PRESSED FLOWER CRAFTS

5:30 P.M., ROBERT A. LEE COMMU NITY RECREATION CENTER, 220 S. GILBERT ST.

LITERATURE

• IWP INTERNATIONAL

AUTHORS PANEL: IN TRANS LATION

12 P.M., IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY, 123 S. LINN ST.

• RANDALL MUNROE

7 P.M., FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, 214 E. JEFFERSON ST.

FOOD

• FREE PRODUCE STAND

9 P.M., HOME TIES, 405 MYRTLE AVE.

SATURDAY-01

DI: One of your recently published works, “Recollections of My Nonexistence,” is a memoir. How has it felt writing nonfiction about yourself?

Solnit: I made the transition to writing more per sonally a while ago, but this book felt more raw and unlike some of the earlier books like “A Field Guide to Getting Lost,” where personal experience might be a starting point or an ending point. It felt like testimony in a tribunal. I have been writing about feminism for 37 years, but I felt like so much of what I wrote was cast in an objective, journalistic way about either the aggregate impact of misogy ny and violence against women or specific cases or special impacts. What never felt like it came into focus is what it might do to us individually to live in a world where we face many kinds of erasure or annihilation. Whether it’s being silenced or not believing in speech, or you simply don’t partici pate in things because of fear, whether it’s walking down the street late at night or expressing your real opinion. I wanted to really describe how it all played out in my formative years, and the book is really tracing a very personal and specific experi

REVIEW

Solnit: There’s no one piece. I’m doing a climate anthology now, and I’m really happy to partici pate in addressing the climate crisis. The femi nist work has had its impact, and I’ve been really proud and excited to participate in moving femi nism forward. I think it made a great leap forward in the last 10 years or so. But maybe “Hope in the Dark,” if I was going to pick one thing. Trying to articulate a hopeful theory of change to recog nize that ordinary people sometimes have ex traordinary power to change the world, that the historical record tells us that it’s happened over and over, and that the very uncertainty of the fu ture has room for hope and possibility in it. And hope not as optimism, which assumes that ev erything will be fine, which is a form of false cer tainty just like pessimism and despair are forms of false certainty. The work I’ve done since 2003 on “Hope” and continue to do with this climate book that I’m writing for the new statesman feels like the thing I’m proudest of.

DI: What is the biggest obstacle you have faced in your own writing, and how have you overcome it?

Solnit: I think one that’s still with me is work that is most significant to me and that I feel like is my most valuable contribution, rather than doing all the things everybody wants me to do. One of the fundamental truths of being a writer is that you will constantly be asked to perform different kinds of community service, help other people’s careers, participate in literary events, do all these kinds of busy work, and some of it’s valuable service, and I believe in it. But nobody will ever email you or call you up on the phone and say, “I really, really hope that you’ll stay home and write your deepest work

‘Don’t Worry Darling’ is for the modern thriller fan

Emily Delgado Politics Reporter

your most profound understandings and noth ing else today.” Nobody will ask you to do that instead of all of the things that are distractions from them. So, ultimately, filtering out all that clamor to listen to what’s most compelling for me — which ultimately is my most profound contri bution — has always felt like a challenge. I think that there might have been some things I would have really liked to write and I might, in some ways, have been a better writer if I had been less of a good girl meeting everyone else’s demands and expectations, and more just really focusing on my vision of what’s really important to say. I think everybody in whatever they’re doing in life has to strike a balance between a compelling per sonal sense and some sense of service, but I hope that my best work is itself a service, even though it’s not as direct as all the busy work.

DI: What is one piece of advice you have for aspiring writers?

Solnit: For anybody who wants to be a writer, I hope that you actually like writing and want to write and feel something urgent you have to say. The way you get good at it is you just do it over and over and read what other people write. You become a writer by writing, and you be come a better writer by writing and looking at what you’re doing critically. Programs are great, teachers are great, books of advice are great, and workshops are great, but to become a writer, you have to write.

stella-shipman@uiowa.edu

Playlist

• BODY PARTS

10 A.M., ARTS IOWA CITY, 19-99 S. LINN ST.

ART THEATRE

• LITTLE FEAT

7:30 P.M., THE ENGLERT THEATRE, 221 E. WASHINGTON ST.

DANCE

• SUNSET SALSA

6 P.M., PEDESTRIAN MALL, 210 S. DUBUQUE ST.

LITERATURE

• PANEL DISCUSSION OF CO-CRAFTING

At first glance, “Don’t Worry Darling” seems like the epitome of a classic 1950s all-American movie. Set in a town called Vic tory, where men are the breadwinners and women stay at home, Harry Styles and Florence Pugh play the seemingly picturesque 1950s American couple. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Of course, I watched the trailer when it was first released in May, but even then the trailer didn’t give much plot to go off. It put out similar vibes to the 2019 thriller “Midsommer,” which Pugh also starred in. I was expecting a cult movie with Pugh’s charac ter Alice confronting the patriarch Frank, played by Chris Pine. In a way I was right — but the twist at the end of the film could not have been foreseen.

Directed by Olivia Wilde, “Don’t Worry Darling” has made its place in the horror slash thriller movie genre. The way Wilde makes sure the viewer experiences a rollercoaster of emotions, just like Alice, is what makes the movie perfect. I found myself feeling every thing Alice was feeling and discovering the truth of her reality with her.

proves Wilde can hold her own among her male coun terparts. Every camera movement does more than just capture the movie and helps the viewer figure out what is really going on in Victory.

The final plot twist, I think, is what makes the movie a piece of art. I heard gasps all throughout the theater because it was ex ecuted perfectly — there was no mess in the telling of the true story behind Victory.

the men in the movie — specifically Jack.

One can’t talk about “Don’t Worry Darling” without mentioning Pugh’s performance, and for good reason. To keep it brief, Pugh was perfect. The film would not be the same without her. Pugh is known for psychological thrill ers, but her performance in “Don’t Worry Darling” is unmatched by anything she has done before. At just 26, Pugh is slowly making a name for herself as one of the best actresses of our generation.

• LONG POSE STUDIO GROUP

9 A.M., ARTS IOWA CITY, 19-99 S. LINN ST.

ART FOOD

• DRAG BRUNCH

10 A.M., ALEBRIJE RESTAURANT, 401 S. LINN ST.

• CARNIFEX

6 P.M., WILDWOOD SMOKEHOUSE

& SALOON, 4919 WALLEYE DRIVE

• IOWA JAZZ

ORCHESTRA

7 P.M., THE JAMES THEATER

• HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA

7 P.M., IOWA CITY MUNICIPAL

1801 S. RIVERSIDE DRIVE

Unlike other thrillers, “Don’t Worry Darling” does not use violence to move the story along, but rather infringes psycho logical torment upon the viewer. This choice is short of pure genius. Much like a rollercoaster, “Don’t Worry Darling” brings the viewer through twists and turns that are never seen coming.

Alice’s marriage to Jack Chambers, played by Styles, is the focal point of the movie. A perfect marriage at first glance, it starts to experience cracks when Alice begins to notice discrepancies in her town.

Margaret, another wife in town played by KiKi Layne, questions why they are all in Victory. At this point, Al ice and the viewer start to question the same thing, a question the men don’t want answered. The rea son why makes the movie a masterpiece.

Her second try at direct ing, “Don’t Worry Darling”

Explained during the haunting lullaby “With you All The Time,” sang by Styles and Pugh, a mul titude of flashing images piece together the truth of Victory. Throughout the film’s duration, it pulls the viewer closer and closer, so much so that I was con stantly at the edge of my seat.

Wilde’s goal was to dis turb the viewer, and she fulfilled that goal. The soundtrack, which is per fectly disturbing, adds a layer to the film’s haunting nature. Composed by John Powell, the soundtrack is filled with sounds and in strumentals so chilling it explains why Wilde’s pastel wonderland does not need to be dark — the soundtrack itself is the darkness.

This part of any thriller can be rather messy and cause more confusion than clarity. “Don’t Worry Dar ling,” however, answers all questions, but still leaves the viewer confused and surprised at the end of the movie. This confusion is not the writer’s or Wilde’s fault; the whole point of the movie was to leave you in a confused state and question the morals of all

Opposite Pugh, Styles was an interesting pick for the lead actor. Although I was wary of Styles’ acting, I was humbly surprised by how well he fits the role of Jack, a multidimensional character. Styles plays into the role of a psychopath, and throughout the whole movie the viewer doesn’t think much about him un til the last 30 minutes. His final scene took me by sur prise — Styles did a great job executing the, for lack for a better word, “scary” side of Jack.

Pugh and Style’s on-camera chemistry is what plays into the dis turbing truth of the movie, and I wholeheartedly be lieve the writers and Wilde wanted the viewers to feel sick after the movie ends.

“Don’t Worry Darling” is definitely a career-de fining moment for both Wilde and Pugh. Despite leaving the viewer utter ly disturbed, one cannot overlook the pure genius it takes to execute that feel ing yet still keep the viewer wanting more.

emily-delgado@uiowa.edu

Parker Jones Arts Editor

Twenty-nine years after the original premiered, the cult classic film “Hocus Po cus” will finally get its se quel on Sept. 30, with “Ho cus Pocus 2” soon to debut on Disney+.

The original film was re leased in 1993 and tells a comedic tale of a villainous witch trio from the 1600s who are accidentally res urrected by a teenage boy in Salem, Massachusetts one Halloween night. The sequel will follow a similar premise, with the Sand erson sisters returning to present-day Salem and continuing their evil yet humorous antics. A simi lar cast of characters to the original must stop the trio before Halloween night is over.

The original film’s direc tor, Disney Channel Origi nal Movie (DCOM) veteran filmmaker Kenny Ortega, will not return for “Hocus Pocus 2.” Instead, dancer, actress, and director Anne Fletcher will lead the sequel.

Additionally, writer David Kirschner returned as story writer for the sequel along side producer Steven Haft. One of the sequel film’s draws is its main cast, sev eral of which have returned from the first movie — no tably the Sanderson sisters themselves. The eldest of the trio, Winifred “Winnie” Sanderson, is played by Bet te Midler; Mary Sanderson, the middle sister, is played by Kathy Najimy; and the youngest, Sarah Sanderson, is played by Sarah Jessi ca Parker. Additional cast members include Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, Winnie’s former love in terest who is resurrected as a zombie; Whitney Peak as Becca, who accidentally conjures the witch sisters; Belissa Escobedo as Izzy, Becca’s quirky best friend; and Lilia Buckingham as Cassie, a popular classmate who helps stop the sisters.

The original film was re leased in theaters, but ul timately lost Disney $16.5 million over the course of its box office run. However, af ter years of being re-run on Disney Channel for annual Halloween specials, it gar nered a cult following and is known as a classic spooky DCOM. The new film will have a singular streaming release on Disney+ without any theatrical run.

parker-jones@uiowa.edu

Directed by Olivia Wilde and starring Florence Pugh, “Don’t Worry Darling” is a psychological thriller with a twist no one saw coming.

Jan 27, 2020; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Florence Pugh nominated for best performance by an actress in a supporting role in “Little Women” arrives to the Nominees Luncheon for the 92nd Oscars at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland. Mandatory Credit: Dan MacMedan via USA TODAY

Local authors to be featured at Book Festival

Vaishnavi Kolluru Arts Reporter

Iowa City’s contribu tions to literature are in numerable and brilliant. Renowned writers have found inspiration and support in Iowa City, and institutions dedicated to the pursuit of literature thrive here.

To celebrate and honor Iowa City’s importance to the literary communi ty, UNESCO sponsors the annual Iowa City Book Festival.

This year’s festival will take place from Sept. 28 to Oct. 13 in a variety of locations that foster reading and writing, in cluding the Iowa City Public Library, Prairie Lights Bookstore, and the University of Iowa’s Main Library.

Executive Director of Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature John Kenyon has played an integral role in putting the festi val together. He said the festival will elevate Iowa City’s literary life.

“Literature is the thread that holds together the fabric of our communi ty,” Kenyon said. “Having a book festival that really shines a bright light on literature for a couple of weeks brings in people from outside who maybe don’t normally interact with us, raises awareness about local writers who have been toiling away and maybe get lost in the shuffle as we continue to tout all the big names.”

Kenyon said this year’s festival will be celebrated for longer than usual, as it is the first time since the pandemic that the liter ary community can enjoy the events in person. The festival will also be one of the largest held in its 14-year history, with 40 events taking place over the two-week span.

“That is a week longer than we normally would do, but this year we had so many things that we wanted to do, so many partner organizations that wanted to do things with us that it just ne cessitated expanding the schedule,” Kenyon said.

While the festival is meant to be a social and entertaining activity for book lovers, many pre senters also hope to uti lize their platform to comment on pressing so cietal issues and intellec tual questions.

“We see the festival as contributing to ongoing conversations within our community,” Kenyon said.

PREGAME

“There are a lot of larg er topics that people are talking about when they get together, like race, like violence, like envi ronmentalism — a lot of our authors address those topics.”

James Throgmorton is one author who wishes to speak on an issue at the heart of public interest at the festival.

As the former mayor of Iowa City, he was one of the leaders of the city’s mission from 2012-2019: to become more inclusive and sustainable. His new book, “Co-crafting the Just City,” is a non-fic tion account of his expe riences striving for this goal, and he will discuss it during one of the festi val’s events.

“As a former member of the City of Literature’s board and as a former Iowa City council mem ber and mayor, I strongly support [Iowa City’s Book Festival],” Throgmor ton said. “I greatly look forward to being one of this year’s participants, especially given the out standing lineup of invited writers.”

Another presenter is author Jerald Walker, who wishes to comment on race, a topic he said is of great importance. Walk er is a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, a professor at Emerson College, and a highly es teemed writer. The event will focus on his latest book, “How to Make a Slave.”

“On the issue of race and racism and how peo ple deal with it, we have a number of authors, but the one I would highlight the most is Jerald Walk er,” Kenyon said. “He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, and he is a National Book Award finalist for his book ‘How to Make a Slave.’ It is a collection of essays that deals very much with how we grapple with race in our everyday lives. I know his talk is going to be very thought-provoking.”

Walker hopes present ing his book at the Festi val will make it more ac cessible to people facing situations similar to what he went through.

“It is a collection of es says,” Walker said. “They are based on my experi ences as a husband, fa ther, writer, and as an American citizen who happens to be Black and what it means to be a Black person in this coun try who is working, teach ing, parenting in this

country, and the difficul ties sometimes that that presents as well as all of the opportunities.”

Walker is excited for the opportunity to pres ent his book.

“I recognize what an important festival this is,” Walker said. “Iowa City is known for its respect for writers and writing. They do their most to promote literature. It’s an honor to be invited to it, and I’m happy to participate.”

Beth Livingston, a pro fessor at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, is another au thor who sees the festival as an opportunity for peo ple to become better in formed about social jus tice. She co-wrote a book recently with Tina Opie, a professor of organiza tional behavior at Babson College.

The book is called “Shared Sisterhood: How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Eq uity at Work.” Livingston said it began with her co-writer Opie’s perplexi ty as to why women found it so difficult to connect with one another.

“[Opie] had started thinking about this idea of ‘if we are all women, why is it that Black and white women seem to be so divided at work?’” Liv ingston said. “She said [she felt] like we should all be fighting for wom en’s equity, so what’s di viding us, what’s keeping us apart?”

Through their presen tation and their book, Liv ingston and Opie aspire to solve some of these problems.

“I’m excited to talk to employees, manag ers, companies — anyone who is like, ‘okay, I really care about equity — but I don’t know how to con nect with other people who are different from me. I don’t know how we can bond together to cre ate this change,” Living ston said. “Our book is kind of a step-by-step on how to do that.”

Journalist, author, and UI professor Don McLeese will entertain and educate at the festival through a conversation with an old journalist colleague, Kyle Munson, on his book “Slippery Steps: Rolling and Tumbling Towards Sobriety.”

“One of the reasons that I wrote that book is that a lot of recovery books are presented from [perspectives of] people [whose] life fell apart, marriage fell apart; peo

ple who lost their health and job — making it seem like one would only change one’s life if one hit that sort of rock bottom,” McLeese said.

Aside from hosting these conversations on these urgent contempo rary social and moral is sues, the organizers of the Book Festival also want to remember and deepen the audience’s appreciation of influential classics.

Darrin Crow, Iowan sto ryteller and teacher, will perform some of the most reputed works of poet Ed gar Allan Poe as part of a performance titled “Mor bid Curiosities and Mab bott Poe.”

“It’ll be cool to present the program,” said Crow, “It is a first-person ac

count, so it is essentially a visit with Poe, and through what he shares, the stories from his life and also some of better-known stories and poems.”

Anna Barker is a hu manities professor at the UI. She offers free tuto rials on classics of world literature throughout the year and hopes to spread awareness about these tutorials. Barker will also host a screening of Victor Hugo’s chef-d’oeuvre “Les Miserables” at the festival.

“I like to celebrate a book’s birthday,” said Barker, explaining that the screening will commemo rate the 160th anniversary of the novel.

Through this eclectic mix of events, the Book Festival organizers hope

to honor and nurture Iowa City’s literary tra dition. Aron Aji, director of UI’s translation pro grams, is volunteering as an organizer of this year’s festival. He spoke enthu siastically about how this festival will enliven IC’s literary circles.

“The Book Festival is a wonderful celebration of all things written and lit erary; very fitting for our city and the university given the extraordinary concentration of creative writers and artists in our community,” Aji said. “Iowa City is known for its love of literary arts, and the Book Festival is a signature event to mark it.”

vaishnavi-kolluru@uiowa.edu

The UNESCO City of Literature event will bring authors from across the country to Iowa City.

Abigail Wisecup/The Daily Iowan

A volunteer reader speaks during a public reading of “War and Peace” on the Ped Mall on Sept. 30, 2019.